Free: Contests & Raffles.
Why is this not considered a form of poaching?Why does "i didn't see the no trespass sign" get you off of the trespass charge?
It may not be poaching but it is definitly a fine to shot a animal on someone elses property.
Jerks like this ruin it for everyone, and to the extent that people defend this kind of behavior or make excuses for it, you're just doing more damage to the tradition of safe, sane, respectful hunting.
This must have been about seven or eight years ago now, but a neighbor of mine with about 40 acres of pasture and forested swamp bordering the highway had guys pull off to the side of the highway, right by their driveway on opening morning because there were elk in the fenced and cross fenced pasture. She walked out of the house and was walking towards them telling them to get lost when they SHOT the elk, right past her as she was walking towards them. She was furious, called the sheriff, deputy showed up and of course, knew the offenders and talked her out of pressing charges. The offenders kept the elk and a few days later a dead salmon was thrown into the property owners' yard for their dog to get into. Absolutely outrageous, and apparently not that unusual. I've had trespassers, people tearing down my signs, illegal campfires just behind my land on the timber road there, people trespassing my neighbor's adjacent property and shooting at elk at night, within about 300 yards of my house, children and livestock. Last year I just missed catching a guy who drove off of the logging road, past multiple no trespassing signs onto my place, just to do a bunch of donuts in his 4x4 and tear up a piece of flat ground that I had hand manicured with a rake after some machinery had been in there, to keep it draining properly. When I first moved here and bought this land, I had not yet started hunting, and let me tell you, I did NOT have a very high opinion of hunters in general. In general, I still don't. The first two years I was here elk opening day was absolute mayhem near my place, with multiple people shooting from the highway right below my house at first light. Thankfully, the elk don't show themselves in that field anymore. Last winter some *censored* pulled off to the side of the highway, within about 150 yards of the house below mine and started blasting away at the ducks in the wetlands there, at dawn. That would be PRIVATE wetlands, owned by a private individual, fenced on all three sides. Nice. Jerks like this ruin it for everyone, and to the extent that people defend this kind of behavior or make excuses for it, you're just doing more damage to the tradition of safe, sane, respectful hunting.As you can probably tell, this topic gets my blood pressure up, and makes me want to go to the suburbs where some of these fine "hunters" live, park an RV in their lawn, build a campfire in their flowerbeds, toss a bunch of beer cans and garbage around the place and start shooting the songbirds out of their trees. Most of them still probably wouldn't "get it".